AI As A Solution

Today, I am sharing the vision for TheShop.ai, what we are building, and the massive opportunity I see in the AI space.

LFG. 🔥

Software Is Dying (It’s Really Not Though)

Last week, SaaS stocks got rocked following the announcement of the new Claude update. Software stocks have lost more than 20% of their value in 2026. Investors are worried that companies will no longer need to buy software because AI can do everything.

This is a panic sell. In my opinion, it is unwarranted because software companies will not be completely destroyed by AI. Many public software companies are enterprise stocks.

It is almost impossible to transition an entire corporation from one software product to another overnight.

In addition, aside from the transition costs, there are still plenty of instances in which buying software is going to solve a problem.

• quickbooks

• figma

• adobe

• slack

• more and more

These tools make life much easier and it will be decades before AI has completely rewritten the way in which we handle and manipulate digital information.

As an example, I remember when we had to switch our payroll system at Stodzy. We used a system called TSheets to track hours, and I would manually enter those hours into our payroll company. As we grew, this became problematic.

So we switched over to a software product called Gusto, which managed all our payroll for us.

I will never forget how unmanageable that process was and how many problems it created for my payroll, the happiness of my employees, and the efficiency of my business. It was a disaster.

Now imagine having 5000 employees and switching from Salesforce to some homegrown Claude based AI CRM filled with bugs, hiccups, and mistakes.

No way Jose. Anyone who thinks this has never actually run a business.

With That Said, AI Will Create A Long Tail

This is another lesson from Seth Godin that completely changed my life.

Technology creates smaller and smaller communities. For example, 50 years ago, there were only three TV channels. Millions of people would tune in to watch Gilligan’s Island every day because they had no other options.

Today, Taylor Swift is arguably the biggest superstar in the world. Yet, the viewership she demands is still small in comparison to the reach of Gilligan’s Island.

More people now belong to smaller, more specific groups. The long tail gets longer.

Social media created a long tail effect for media, and AI will create a long tail effect for SaaS.

Companies now have the ability to create software for themselves that meets the specific needs of their exact business, problems, and idiosyncrasies.

For example, one of my clients is a psychedelics retreat in Mexico. It is very difficult for them to find software to manage their exact needs because they require a combination of booking software for retreats, hotel management software for stays and inventory, and dietary tracking for guests. They also need to hold medical records, intake forms, and payments.

There is no single way to do this. The only current solution is a mix of Google Docs, paper records, and something like a Mews hotel booking engine.

That is until now. We can build them a tool that will match the exact needs they have as a business and an enterprise.

That’s What We Are Doing With TheShop.AI

I am calling it “AI as a solution.”

Now, you do not have to buy a specific software tool and try to wrap the needs of your business around the functionality of that software. Instead, you can train AI to build a software agent that provides a solution to your exact problem.

Whatever it is, we can build it.

Whatever problem you have, we can create AI tailored software to solve it.

Chase is an absolute genius. What he built with Directorly.app has completely blown my mind. I am very excited to add this new concept to my portfolio and to get my hands dirty with fun AI projects.

Love you guys. Talk to you tomorrow.

Tim